8 January 2001
I scored my first goal ever in a game tonight. It was a nice little thrill. I've been hoping that I'd be able to do the Brett Hull thing (score the goal, skate away quietly), but I was afraid that excitement would overwhelm me, and I'd start yelling, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

In the end, I very nearly managed the Hull, most likely because the puck was moving so slowly that I had plenty of time to get used to the idea of scoring before it actually crossed the goal line. (I've wondered since if it was *really* moving that slowly, or whether it just seemed like time had slowed down.)

The goalie went down, but the puck managed to sneak under him and come out the other side. As soon as it crossed the line, I raised my stick over my head, but I didn't shout. Ross then blew the whistle and pointed—something I'd never noticed him do for a goal before—so I started to wonder if there'd been a penalty rather than a goal. I looked at him like, "that was a goal, right?" and he gave a barely-perceptible nod. I smiled and skated off.

I'm number 19!

When I reached the bench, Rob said, "you're not coming off, are you?" I figured I'd been out there at least 45 seconds, and the whistle had been blown, so now was as good a time as any. As I sat on the bench, I heard a couple people say, "who scored that goal?" :)

So that's the good news about last night's game. The bad news is that Lars broke two bones in his right leg not long after that (I think it was my second or third shift out). He'd gotten tangled up with an Inktomi player to the left of the goal, and the other player's stick got caught between his skates. Lars' stick was caught up, too, but he released his, and the other player didn't. The rigid stick acted like a lever, and Lars' leg snapped.

He didn't go down very hard, but he started pounding his fist against the ice right away, and then alternately screaming and blowing hard within a few seconds. He knew he'd broken something. The officials came over to help, and Ross said, "OK, who's going to get undressed and drive him to the hospital? We can call an ambulance, but that'll cost about a thousand dollars." I said, "Al can take him." I knew Al was up in the lounge watching the game, so I skated to that end and motioned for him to come down. A couple skaters helped Lars off the ice, and then Al and Bryan got him to my car (which has more room than Al's convertible) and drove him to Sequoia Hospital. We resumed the game, a bit subdued.

I was almost finished getting changed in the locker room after the game (we won 5-4) when Al and Bryan returned. Lars hadn't been xrayed yet when they left to come back and get his car keys, but they said that the doctor could feel the break when he removed Lars' skate. We put his gear in his car and drove back to the hospital to give him the keys.

He was pale and either sedated or in shock, but coherent. He said he'd never felt such pain in his life. Both the tibia (shin) and fibula (thinner bone behind the shin) were broken down near the ankle, and there was a gap at the break. That meant a metal plate would need to be inserted. He was waiting to talk to the orthopedic surgeon when we left him. Needless to say, he'll be out for the season. :(